Pick 15 and Evans and Dennard are available, who ya taking?

CBs regularly don't work out if they aren't in a system that fits their skillset. I like Dennard and I would like to have him, but getting him on the team would require a shift in defensive philosophy. Otherwise, if you aren't going to shift, you might as well just take a CB that is more of a sure thing when it comes to zone, later in the draft. I'm not sure I see the Steelers changing so much for him. They might, but it's also easy to imagine them trying too hard to change Dennard to fit their mold.

WR will have guys available in the 2nd round, but Evans' value is too good to pass up at #15. He won't make it that far, but if he did we'd be silly to pass on him. There's no telling who will be available at pick 46 or 91 or whatever.

To me a better question is "Evans or Gilbert?". Then it's the same situation, except with a CB that presents value closer to Evans, and is more of a zone guy, and is a playmaker and kick returner. That requires more thinking.

 

In this scenario I go Evans, but I really like Dennard.

I don't get the knock on Dennard that he won't fit our system because he's strong at press-man and weaker at zone. Isn't that what Ike Taylor does? Shadow the other team's #1? Do we really run a strict zone in our defense?

 

No we don't run strictly zone ,but Ike can actually play Zone ...Dennard is like 2 different players ....In Man he can be slightly above average IMO...The reason I don't say stellar is because he gets away with 2 many holds that he want be able to do in the NFL...

Now in Zone he is horrible,,, yes horrible ....If a Team was drafting him as a Zone CB only he wouldn't even go to the 4th. or 5th. round . He is not a good run stopper . He is Lost in space. He lacks the speed to be a good closer from a zone scheme...

IMO if we get him at 15 the chances are great we are wasting a pick ....

 

He does, but he's not always locked up man to man, and he's still good in zone. What I don't know about is how difficult it would be to effectively remove one CB from the rest of the defensive plans, and just have him play man while everyone else does zone around him. In any case, if we had more CBs with Dennard's skills, we could be much more flexible with our zone, which would be nice.

 

he was productive according to numbers but don't get lost in them. he had a lot of plays where johnny ran and ran and ran until someone finally got open. he would run go routes and screens. he cant run outs and he doesn't go over the middle

he also turned me against him in the bowl game. he acted like a punk

 

There is a BIG difference between saying someone doesn't run routes and saying he wasn't asked to run routes. BIG difference.

His pro day was an opportunity to show those things as being wrong. I think the WRs I have seen are ranked all over the place depending on who you talk to or listen to. A lot of opinion going around.

 

That's easy for me Gilbert better ball skills and he can return kicks.

 

oh I agree. there is a huge difference but I watched texas a&m a lot. I cant even count the times johnny jumped his butt for being in the wrong place. there was a play against bama where he went across the middle. ball on the way and he stopped. he doesn't want to get hit and johnny was furious. it was kinda entertaining watching them on the sideline

I know what you are gonna say it may have been johnnys fault but you never seen the coaches jump him after those plays. of course they had their hands full with him and all the other crap he done

 

The problem is we don't value either position. I can't remember the last time we took a corner in round one. I think the last wr we took was Santonio Holmes.

That being said I would take Dennard. Only because I think the WR class is very deep compared to the cornerback class. We can get a decent receiver in the second round that would be better than a second round corner.

 

I went back to watch gilbert yet again and for the life of me can't see where all the hype about him is coming from.

 

I honestly think it comes from the special teams impact he makes. That being said, I am really starting to like the way Fuller plays. I know the way he was coached and respect the way they teach guys to play the game.

That all being said, as much as I think we need WR and CB in this draft, I honestly think our first round pick will be someone else. There is so much depth at those two positions that I don't see a logical reason why you can't get a WR in round 2 and CBs in 3 and 4 and get CLOSE to the same talent level as you would in round 1. I would love to get a 2nd First Round pick for next year and get an additional 2nd or 3rd this year. Here is hoping a QB or someone drops that someone is willing to pay to move up for.

 

I'd have to rank them for us at fuller, roby, Watkins, gaines.

fuller because of coverage, football smarts and run support. just a good all around game.

roby the same.

Watkins as coverage and position flexibility and run support.

gaines as a coverage man and football smarts.

late round guys are reaser from fla. international and kendell james from maine. they have some game to work with. there truly is some deep talent in this draft. we should easily come away with two corners for the future and some safety help for down the road.

 

NFL.com is running this beat writer mock draft, where a beat writer from each market picks for their team. Kind of an interesting concept using guys with some potential inside info rather than the other mocks out there from guys whose guess is as good as mine. Anyway, this exact situation (Dennard vs Evans) came up and Ken Laird picks Mike Evans for us. I couldn't believe he was available!

Also, Zack Martin nearly cracks the top-10.

 

Between kickoff returns and int he has 6 career TDs, also the fastest CB in the draft 4.3 forty you can't coach speed.

 

heck kyle van noy had 5 TD's and a safety. gibert is terrible against the run. he can't get off a block, takes bad angles and doesn't seem to like to get in the mix unless he absolutely has to. he's got cover skills and his speed is good, but roby and verrett are just as fast. I don't think there is a great deal of difference in coverage that would over ride the run support issue. as far as returns, good but nothing special. believe me it wouldn't be a terrible pick, but that part of his game worries me. fuller, roby, verrett are still my top 3 for our system. gaines, Watkins, gaines after them.

 

a little off topic ..but what you think about zack martin at 15 ?

 

I wouldn't complain.

 

scout.com also did a beat writer mock draft recently. Our first two picks were WR Mike Evans (1) and CB Kyle Fuller (2)

 

Yup, I could live with that scenario, no doubt!

 

If we get those 2 guys in the first 2 rounds, I will be ecstatic.